KL KrashPad - Chow Kit Kita (Part 4)

When we come to Jalan Tiong Nam 5, we face Jalan Thamboosamy.

This road connects Tiong Nam Settlement to Jalan Putra which is more an extension of Jalan Chow Kit after Jalan Raja Laut.
No need to guess, Jalan Putra is named after our First Prime Minister.

A street/road named after an Indian (Tamil) in this predominantly Chinese area?  Who was he?

 photo from 'The Victoria Institution - The 
Reminiscence of Mr R Thampipillay'

     K. Thamboosamy Pillay was a prominent Malaysian during the pre-independence years and was considered the leader of the Tamil community.

     Born in Singapore in 1850, he received his early education at Raffles Institution. He sailed to Klang in 1875 with James Guthrie Davidson, when the latter was appointed Malaya's first British Resident.

     He was later transferred to the Treasury where he eventually became chief clerk and acted as State Treasurer on a few occasions. He was sent to India by the Malayan Government to bring over the first batch of Indian immigrants for the Railway and Public Works. 

     Thamboosamy resigned from Government service in the 1880s and, going into partnership with Towkay Loke Yew, managed the New Tin Mining Company in Rawang. 

     He was one of the founders and one of the original Trustees of Victoria Institution as well as the founder of the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur.

(source: Wikipedia)

 We then come to this temple along Jalan Tiong Nam 5.  (This is the temple where I first witnessed Chinese Opera during the Hungry Ghost Festival many, many years ago.  The temple was just a wooden structure and not so grand in those days.)

It was some sort of festival day at the temple and there was a lot of activity going on.  There was also a steady stream of worshipers coming in to pray. 

One of the Elder Volunteers at the temple had earlier agreed to meet with the children to brief them about the temple and answer any questions that they may have.  See how keen the children are in learning about other cultures.

Something I never knew, a news paper clipping at the temple.

A Spider Did It

On a cobweb - Merdeka

     Crowds are flocking to a Chinese Temple in Tiong Nam Settlement Kuala Lumpur to see the word "merdeka" spun by a spider on the web in a palm tree.

     It was first discovered by elderly Chinese devotee who gasped with excitement as he say the spider complete the word.

     This was shortly after morning prayers on Sunday.

     Since the discovery, hundreds of people in Kuala Lumpur have rushed to the temple to catch a glimpse of the spider at work.

     Threads of many other unreadable letters also hang on the cobweb.

     To protect the palm tree from being trampled by the crowds, the temple authorities have erected a wire fence around it.

(No source or date of the clipping is available.) 

Posing for a group photo before leaving the temple.